World Games 2013

One competition, two continents, four countries and six flights - in five days. Intense? Yes. Was it worth it? YES. Puh, it has definitely been a couple of hectic days. I just got back from Cali, Colombia after competing at the World Games, which is like the Olympics but for non-Olympic sports. The competition went far better than I had expected and I finished in 6th place!

Prior to leaving for Colombia I felt rather nervous as I had a massive travel ahead of me. Additionally, I was very uncertain of my shape since I had not been able to train very well lately and not competed in lead for over six months. However, when competing the only thing you can actually control is your own performance, so my focus was to try to perform my very best and climb as well as possible. The semifinal went really well. I fell just a few moves before the top and was very satisfied with my climbing. This qualified me for finals in 3rd place, yay!

Climbing in finals went well up until 2/3 of the route where I suddenly slipped with my foot, barely being tired at all. Before I knew it I was back on the ground. Bummer! I finished in 6th place, which I am still very happy about.

To summarize I had an amazing time in Colombia. Just to compete at the World Games was a super cool experience. I had really missed competing so it felt nice to be back in the game. Also, it was my first (although short) time in South America. We actually managed to do quite a few things considering the short amount of time. The 2,5 days we had in Cali consisted in visiting the Cali Zoo, exploring some parts of the city and a famous market, lots and lots of taxi rides, hanging by the pool and eating a luxury breakfast at a 5-star hotel. This time I traveled with the Austrian team which was a lot of fun, thanks guys =)